.\" Copyright (c) 1986 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.  The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\"
.\"	@(#)ns.3n	6.2 (Berkeley) 5/12/86
.\"
.TH NS 3N "May 12, 1986"
.UC 6
.SH NAME
ns_addr, ns_ntoa \- Xerox NS(tm)  address conversion routines
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B "#include <sys/types.h>
.B "#include <netns/ns.h>
.PP
.B "struct ns_addr ns_addr(cp)
.B "char *cp;
.PP
.B "char *ns_ntoa(ns)
.B "struct ns_addr ns;
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The routine
.I ns_addr
interprets character strings representing
XNS addresses, returning binary information suitable
for use in system calls.
.I ns_ntoa
takes XNS addresses and returns ASCII
strings representing the address in a
notation in common use in the Xerox Development Environment:
.nf
	<network number>.<host number>.<port number>
.fi
Trailing zero fields are suppressed, and each number is printed in hexadecimal,
in a format suitable for input to 
.IR ns_addr .
Any fields lacking super-decimal digits will have a
trailing ``H'' appended.
.PP
Unfortunately, no universal standard exists for representing XNS addresses.
An effort has been made to insure that
.I ns_addr
be compatible with most formats in common use.
It will first separate an address into 1 to 3 fields using a single delimiter
chosen from
period (``.''),
colon (``:'') or pound-sign (``#'').
Each field is then examined for byte separators (colon or period).
If there are byte separators, each subfield separated is taken to be
a small hexadecimal number, and the entirety is taken as a network-byte-ordered
quantity to be zero extended in the high-network-order bytes.
Next, the field is inspected for hyphens, in which case
the field is assumed to be a number in decimal notation
with hyphens separating the millenia.
Next, the field is assumed to be a number:
It is interpreted
as hexadecimal if there is a leading ``0x'' (as in C),
a trailing ``H'' (as in Mesa), or there are any super-decimal digits present.
It is interpreted as octal is there is a leading ``0''
and there are no super-octal digits.
Otherwise, it is converted as a decimal number.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
hosts(5), networks(5),
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
None (see BUGS).
.SH BUGS
The string returned by
.I ns_ntoa
resides in a static memory area.
.br
.I ns_addr
should diagnose improperly formed input, and there should be an unambiguous
way to recognize this.
